Improvement in artificial leather



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

JOHN HARRINGTON, OF RYDE, ISLE OF WIGHT.

IMPROVEMENT IN ARTIFICIAL LEATHER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 220,237, dated October 7, 1879; application filed April 28, 1679.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN HARRINGTON, of Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, have invented an Improvement in the Manufacture of Artificial Leather, of which the following is a specification.

I make use of a surface of felt, prepared in imitation of leather, and a backing of canton flannel or similar napped material, with the napped surface turned toward and cemented to the imitation leather, as hereinafter set forth.

I take a felted fabric and dye the same of a color approximating to the color of the finished material; but for light imitation leather the dyeing may be dispensed with. It is usually preferable to employ a weak solution of indiarubber as a sizing for the felt to cause the fibers to adhere firmly together, and I coat the surface with paint, one or two coats of good drying oil-color being employed, and then a thin coating of shellac is applied to the paint, and the felt is to be embossed or grained in imitation of the surface of leather by means of rollers or plates having the required undulating surface to give the appearance of the grain of leather.

The back of the felted fabric is prepared with a suitable adhesive substance, such as india-rubber cement, and the napped surface of the canton-flannel is by preference coated with the same material, and the napped surface is turned toward and caused to adhere to the back of the felt by pressure, and when the adhesive material has become dry or cured the fabric is complete.

I find that the material manufactured as aforesaid possesses superior qualities to the imitation leather heretofore made, because the same is very flexible, and the nap fills up the depressions and undulations resulting from embossing the felt in imitation of leather, so the two fabrics are uniformly and reliably connected throughout without the grainin g being injured, and in use the nap, filling the depressions of the felted fabric, supports the raised grain and prevents the same flattening down.

I claim as my invention A fabric made in imitation of leather, composed of two layers cemented together, one of which is a felted material prepared in imitation of leather, and the other is canton-flannel or similar fabric, the cemented napped surface of the latter being united to the prepared felt, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 23d day of April, A. D. 1879.

JOHN HARRINGTON.

Witnesses: GEO. T. PINOKNEY, OHAs. H. SMITH. 

